Interesting Facts About English

Future · #1 Friday, July 11, 2014

Interesting Facts About English

in no particular order...

The most common letter in English is "e".

The most common vowel in English is "e", followed by "a".

The most common consonant in English is "r", followed by "t".

Every syllable in English must have a vowel (sound). Not all syllables have consonants.

Only two English words in current use end in "-gry". They are "angry" and "hungry".

The word "bookkeeper" (along with its associate "bookkeeping") is the only unhyphenated English word with three consecutive double letters. Other such words, like "sweet-toothed", require a hyphen to be readily readable.

The word "triskaidekaphobia" means "extreme fear of the number 13". This superstition is related to "paraskevidekatriaphobia", which means "fear of Friday the 13th".

More English words begin with the letter "s" than with any other letter.

A preposition is always followed by a noun (ie noun, proper noun, pronoun, noun group, gerund).

The word "uncopyrightable" is the longest English word in normal use that contains no letter more than once.

A sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a "pangram".

The following sentence contains all 26 letters of the alphabet: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence is often used to test typewriters or keyboards.

The only word in English that ends with the letters "-mt" is "dreamt" (which is a variant spelling of "dreamed") - as well of course as "undreamt"

A word formed by joining together parts of existing words is called a "blend" (or, less commonly, a "portmanteau word"). Many new words enter the English language in this way. Examples are "brunch" (breakfast + lunch); "motel" (motorcar + hotel); and "guesstimate" (guess + estimate). Note that blends are not the same as compounds or compound nouns, which form when two whole words join together, for example: website, blackboard, darkroom.

The word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, bēta.

The dot over the letter "i" and the letter "j" is called a "superscript dot".

In normal usage, the # symbol has several names, for example: hash, pound sign, number sign.

In English, the @ symbol is usually called "the at sign" or "the at symbol".

If we place a comma before the word "and" at the end of a list, this is known as an "Oxford comma" or a "serial comma". For example: "I drink coffee, tea, and wine."

Some words exist only in plural form, for example: glasses (spectacles), binoculars, scissors, shears, tongs, gallows, trousers, jeans, pants, pyjamas (but note that clothing words often become singular when we use them as modifiers, as in "trouser pocket").

The shortest complete sentence in English is the following. "I am."

The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat" meaning "the king is helpless".

We pronounce the combination "ough" in 9 different ways, as in the following sentence which contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."

The longest English word without a true vowel (a, e, i, o or u) is "rhythm".

There are only 4 English words in common use ending in "-dous": hazardous, horrendous, stupendous, and tremendous.

We can find 10 words in the 7-letter word "therein" without rearranging any of its letters: the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.

The "QWERTY keyboard" gains its name from the fact that its first 6 letter keys are Q, W, E, R, T and Y. On early typewriters the keys were arranged in such a way as to minimize the clashing of the mechanical rods that carried the letters.

Source

Insaf Sindhu · #2 Saturday, July 12, 2014

VEry Nice

FAIZ MARRI · #3 Wednesday, July 23, 2014

"EDUCATION"
Is the word which contain all 5 vowels.

pisceankhan · #4 Sunday, August 10, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Future

Interesting Facts About English

in no particular order...

The most common letter in English is "e".

The most common vowel in English is "e", followed by "a".

The most common consonant in English is "r", followed by "t".

Every syllable in English must have a vowel (sound). Not all syllables have consonants.

Only two English words in current use end in "-gry". They are "angry" and "hungry".

The word "bookkeeper" (along with its associate "bookkeeping") is the only unhyphenated English word with three consecutive double letters. Other such words, like "sweet-toothed", require a hyphen to be readily readable.

The word "triskaidekaphobia" means "extreme fear of the number 13". This superstition is related to "paraskevidekatriaphobia", which means "fear of Friday the 13th".

More English words begin with the letter "s" than with any other letter.

A preposition is always followed by a noun (ie noun, proper noun, pronoun, noun group, gerund).

The word "uncopyrightable" is the longest English word in normal use that contains no letter more than once.

A sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a "pangram".

The following sentence contains all 26 letters of the alphabet: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence is often used to test typewriters or keyboards.

The only word in English that ends with the letters "-mt" is "dreamt" (which is a variant spelling of "dreamed") - as well of course as "undreamt"

A word formed by joining together parts of existing words is called a "blend" (or, less commonly, a "portmanteau word"). Many new words enter the English language in this way. Examples are "brunch" (breakfast + lunch); "motel" (motorcar + hotel); and "guesstimate" (guess + estimate). Note that blends are not the same as compounds or compound nouns, which form when two whole words join together, for example: website, blackboard, darkroom.

The word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, bēta.

The dot over the letter "i" and the letter "j" is called a "superscript dot".

In normal usage, the # symbol has several names, for example: hash, pound sign, number sign.

In English, the @ symbol is usually called "the at sign" or "the at symbol".

If we place a comma before the word "and" at the end of a list, this is known as an "Oxford comma" or a "serial comma". For example: "I drink coffee, tea, and wine."

Some words exist only in plural form, for example: glasses (spectacles), binoculars, scissors, shears, tongs, gallows, trousers, jeans, pants, pyjamas (but note that clothing words often become singular when we use them as modifiers, as in "trouser pocket").

The shortest complete sentence in English is the following. "I am."

The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat" meaning "the king is helpless".

We pronounce the combination "ough" in 9 different ways, as in the following sentence which contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."

The longest English word without a true vowel (a, e, i, o or u) is "rhythm".

There are only 4 English words in common use ending in "-dous": hazardous, horrendous, stupendous, and tremendous.

We can find 10 words in the 7-letter word "therein" without rearranging any of its letters: the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.

The "QWERTY keyboard" gains its name from the fact that its first 6 letter keys are Q, W, E, R, T and Y. On early typewriters the keys were arranged in such a way as to minimize the clashing of the mechanical rods that carried the letters.

Source

very informative,Thank you

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Do you know that?	Sureshlasi	General Knowledge, Quizzes, IQ Tests	91	Tuesday, October 27, 2020 01:04 AM
English Poetry	DANISH_KHAN	English Poetry	2	Sunday, October 13, 2019 02:26 PM
Syllabus for M.A English External(NUML)	kiyani	Degree Programs and Courses	17	Thursday, August 07, 2014 07:13 PM
What is necessary to learn English well?	Mr Ghayas	English (Precis & Composition)	0	Sunday, May 07, 2006 11:09 AM

The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Future For This Useful Post:
Abdul Wahid Channa (Friday, August 01, 2014), FAIZ MARRI (Wednesday, July 23, 2014), iFarazAhmed (Sunday, August 10, 2014), namaal (Saturday, July 12, 2014), pisceankhan (Sunday, August 10, 2014), Tassawur (Wednesday, July 23, 2014)

The Following User Says Thank You to Insaf Sindhu For This Useful Post:
Future (Saturday, July 12, 2014)